Aren electronic versions of traditional textbooks much cheaper than their paper-based versions?
Many students and professors hoped that as content began moving to digital form, textbook prices would come down. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way. Publisher’s electronic textbooks do tend to cost less than the print versions, but the lower initial cost can be deceiving. Because publishers maintain control over digital textbooks, they can restrict how they are used and distributed. A student using an electronic textbook cannot sell that book back to the bookstore to recoup some of the purchase cost, nor can other students buy cheaper used versions of electronic texts. A 2008 study (pdf) by student Public Interest Research Groups found that on average, electronic textbooks cost the same as a new print version bought and sold back to the bookstore.
